Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1955)
>»Emerald> ppows ‘Duc&07'iac&& By Jerry Claussen Emerald Sports Writer ■■ Once again another year has slipped by and with it has gone another year of sports. Oregon had one of its best years in intercollegiate athletics in recent times with Duck teams winning the Northwest championship in no less than five out of eight sports. A big step in Oregon-’s athletic program was the resum ing of wrestling competition between Oregon and other Coast schools. The addition of new balconies to McArthur Court raised the hoop plant's capacity to 10,000 and gave the state two of the finest basketball pavilions in the country in another improvement. After Coach Bill Borcher led Oregon to a surprising second place spot in the Northern Di vision basketball race. Duck teams took over the top spot in I spring and fall sports. Cham- I pionships were won in track, I baseball, and golf with the Duck diamond tea m reaching the Western NCAA playoffs. In the fall, all-time-gr^at George Shaw led Oregon to easy wins over Idaho, Wash ington, Washington State, and I Oregon State to win the myth- | ical Northwest football title. It was the Ducks’ first win over the Beavers in six years and en abled Oregon to finish third in GEORGE SHAW A Great 1954 Star the Pacific Coast conference. Bill Bowerman’s cross-coun try team also won the Northwest championship for the sec ond year in a row. Shaw Tops Nation In national competition, Shaw captured the total offense title, rolling up 1536 yards by his passing and running. I le was also second in the nation in passing behind workmanlike Paul Larson of California. Shaw won the Glen Warner award for the best football player on the Pacific Coast and he, Ron Theister, and Jack Patera were selected to play in the East West Shrine game. Sophomore Bill Dellinger highlighted the track season for Oregon when he set an all-time Oregon record in the mile with a 4:10.6 effort in the PCC-Big Ten meet. Earlier he had won both the Coast and the NCAA mile champion ships, as well as the Northern Division title. Yes, it was a good year all around for Oregon sports and also sports in Oregon and around the world. Such things as the Giants’ winning four straight over the Indians in the World Series, the breaking of the four-minute mile mark by Roger Bannister, and the winning of the Davis Cup from Australia after four weary years of frustration captured the headlines over much grimmer news at times. '54 Standouts Recalled But it’s a new year now. And champions in sports are soon forgotten as others take their place. So before we completely leave 1954 behind, here’s a Happy New Year... To George Shaw, who put Oregon football on the map . . . To Kip Taylor, the nicest guy who ever had to resign . . .To Bill Dellinger, who might be Oregon’s contribution to the four-minute mile . .. To Jack Patera, who had the guts not to let tragedy finish his football season. To Slats Gill, who has too much basketball material To Bill Borcher, who doesn’t have enough ... To Jim Los cutoff, whose smile keeps opposing players from taking a poke at him ... To Swede Halbrook, who might graduate some day ... To Tony Vlastelica, who should have gone to college before Gill heard of Halbrook. To Dean Parsons, who will probably get less playing pro ball than he did at Washington . . . To Bob McKeen, the lazi est All-American candidate in history . . . To Dick James, who might get to play basketball some day . .. To Cal Bauer, whose resemblance to Johnny O’Brien is purely coincidental ...To the Eugene Emeralds, may they win the Northwest League pennant next summer . . . and to all sportsmen every where, Happy New Year from the Oregon Daily Emerald. Spring Practices, Television On NCAA Meeting Agenda By Hugh Fullerton Jr. NEW YORK-(AP)-The Na tional Collegiate Athletic asso ciation council restored Arizona State college of Tempe to good standing Wednesday. The television committee, winding up its business for 1954, learned that football attendance during the past season was up 2.5 per cent in spite of increased TV "competition” and the col lege football coaches made a strong pitch for more spring practice. These were the principal de-! velopments of the third day of the winter meetings of college sports leaders. Two-year Ban Lifted Arizona State, center of a re cruiting “scandal’’ a couple of years ago. was handed a two year probation starting Sept. 1. j 1953. The NCAA council re viewed the situation a year ago, voted that the one-year suspen sion of eligibility from NCAA meets and championships should be ended, but continued the pro bationary period: This was one of about a dozen disciplinary moves to be reviewed during the current meetings. No new cases are scheduled to be aired, although several are under investigation. 1 » »«roup The TV committee, finishing its report on the season that was a financial headache to the net work which handled the games, adopted the position that it would not tie the hands of the 1955 committee, which probably will be named Saturday. Its conclusions and recommen dations, previously reported to the NCAA members, simply are that TV controls should be con tinued. and that a new commit tee should draw up a 1955 plan, with due consideration for the assorted opinions which will be brought up in Thursday’s round table discussion. Many Proposals At least five or six proposals will be discussed before a pref erential straw ballot is taken. It’s almost a certainty that the watered-down resolution will be passed by the convention Friday. The TV committee also accept ed the fifth annual report from the national opinion research center of the University of Chi cago, which has studied the ef fects of TV on football attend ance. The 12-page document showed an attendance Increase over 1953, but a decline of over a million from the pre-TV aver age of about 15 million per year. In their separate meeting in another hotel, the members of the American Football Coaches association got into a lively dis cussion of spring practice in their open discussion session. They unanimously approved the AFCA rules committee's recom mendations for three changes in the code, including a liberaliza tion of the substitution rule. Practices Extended The coaches finally agreed on a resolution that spring football practice, now limited to 20 ses sions within a 36-day period by a NCAA rule, should be extended to a total of 60 hours. After a lengthy discussion, a committee headed by Biggie Munn of Michigan State agreed on a program limiting spring practice to five two-hour periods a week within a period of six calendar weeks, exclusive of va cation periods. This was referred to the NCAA for consideration, but It can t conic up at thlN yeur's meeting because of a constitutional re quirement that proposed legis lation must be circularized 30 days before the convention. The convention "scuttlebutt," largely concerned with coaching changes, failed to produce the usual numbers of rumors. Idaho Coach Sees Company in Cellar PULLMAN. Wash. <AIJ» "It , looks like the three of us Idaho, I Oregon and Washington State — are in the same boat,” said Har lan Hodges, the new Idaho bas ketball coach after watching the Ducks and Cougars split two games Monday and Tuesday. He suggested the Northern Division race will be strictly a two-team affair between Oregon State and Washington. Neither Oregon nor Washington State were impressive in the opening series here. Butler Hoop Boss Views Foul Rule INDIANAPOLIS-( API-Paul B. (TonyI Hinkle, president of the National Basketball Coaches as sociation, said Wednesday it's a little early to gauge effects of the new bonus foul rule but "it looks as if the rough teams are getting hooked,” "There's no doubt it places a severe penalty on fouling," said Hinkle, who is coaching Butler university’s team for the 26th year. Non-foulers Rewarded "Teams which can guard with out fouling are doing very well under the rule. There's Purdue, for example.” Purdue, with a veteran team but a poor record the last two years, has won eight of nine games this season losing only by one point to Pennsylvania. “The full effects of giving an extra free throw for one made haven't been seen yet,” Hinkle said in an interview. “Teams started out playing the same as last year. "I can’t see that the rule has decreased fouling, at least in our games. But there are several pos sible developments. An aggres sive defense may be eliminated. Coaches may go into the zone defense. One of the dangers is that congested defenses might place a premium on height and eliminate the good little men." Hinkle said he thought last year's rule, giving an extra free throw if the first was missed, wasn't a bad rule but "it was killed by bad publicity before it was tried." Woody's round the clock DRIVE-IN GOOD HAMBURGERS THICK SHAKES Car Service Weekdays Only Watt 6th, Near Blair Phona 5-9001 The nine strategically located equipment centers of the National Foundation for Infantile Paral ysis bring the benefits of life-saving care close to every American. The iron lungs, chest respira tors, rocking beds and other vital equipment made Instantly available by these March of Dimes-supported centers help save lives and re store victims to normal or near-normal living.
